Commonwealth heads of government protest against Britain over slave reparations

Commonwealth leaders are preparing to defy Britain and have agreed plans to review reparative justice for the transatlantic slave trade, the BBC reported.

Downing Street insisted the issue was not on the agenda for the summit of the Commonwealth’s 56 countries, which begins on Friday in the Pacific island nation of Samoa.

But diplomatic sources said officials were negotiating an agreement to conduct further research and begin “meaningful talks” on the issue that could leave Britain with billions of pounds in compensation.

Bahamas Foreign Minister Frederick Mitchell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Once you bring up the topic, it may take a while for people to come around, but they will come back.”

Reparative justice for slavery can take many forms, including financial reparations, debt relief, formal apologies, educational programs, museums, economic assistance, and public health support.

The current text of the draft summit statement, as known to the BBC, is as follows: A sincere and respectful dialogue to build a common future based on equity.”

The report said government leaders “will play an active role in fostering a comprehensive dialogue that addresses these evils” and “prioritize further research into the transatlantic trade in African slaves and chattel slavery, which encouraged and supported slavery.” “We agreed to prioritize it and promote it,” he said. “It allows us to have a conversation and show us a way forward.”

Text – may change once commonwealth leader Arrival – spoiled by diplomats ahead of summit meeting. British officials succeeded in thwarting plans to make an entirely separate declaration on the subject.

The UK did not want any language to be included in the statement on compensatory justice, but at this point it must be accepted that three full paragraphs setting out the Commonwealth’s detailed position should be included.

Officials at Caricom, the agency representing Caribbean countries, have been trying to expand the issue to encompass the Pacific as well as the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The draft statement states that the majority of member states “share a common historical experience with regard to this abhorrent trade, the enslavement of chattels, and the debilitation and dispossession of indigenous peoples.”

It also refers directly to the practice known as “blackbirding,” in which Pacific Islanders were tricked or kidnapped into becoming slaves or cheap labor in colonies throughout the region.

Diplomats said they now expected compensatory justice to be a central focus of the agenda for the next Commonwealth summit to be held in two years’ time in the Caribbean, possibly in Antigua and Barbuda.

There are growing demands from Commonwealth leaders ahead of this year’s summit. Britain must apologize for its historic role in the slave trade and pay trillions of pounds in compensation.

A report published last year by the University of the West Indies, with the support of International Court of Justice judge Patrick Robinson, concluded that Britain owes more than £18 trillion in reparations for slavery in 14 Caribbean countries.

Last weekend, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, following a visit by Foreign Minister Baroness Chapman, said the fight for compensation was far from over.

“That’s what the word apology is,” Bahamas Foreign Minister Frederick Mitchell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He told the Commonwealth Conference: “This is a simple matter. One sentence, one line, and you can get it done.”

Asked how much compensation should be, Mr Mitchell said it was not just a matter of money, but “it was a matter of respect, acknowledging the past was a wrong that needed to be righted”.

He said member states “want to start a dialogue” but “there seems to be even a reluctance to do so.”

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Britain had heard calls for slavery reparations “loud and clear” but the Prime Minister was “right” to “focus on the future”.

A UK government spokesperson told the BBC it would not comment on the leaks, but added: “Reparations are not on the agenda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. The government’s position has not changed. We do not pay compensation.

“We are focused on using the (Commonwealth Heads of Government) summit to discuss the shared opportunities we can unlock across the Commonwealth, including securing more economic growth.”

Downing Street’s stance that reparative justice was not on the agenda, while technically correct, is understood to have angered some Caribbean ministers when it was clear the issue would be discussed at the summit.

The BBC understands the government’s tone and tone has left some members “further irritated” who did not expect the UK to change its views and “suddenly start pouring in a lot of money”.

Sir Keir Starmer landed in Samoa late Wednesday UK time, becoming the first sitting prime minister to visit the Pacific island nation.

Speaking to reporters along the way, he said he wanted to discuss current issues with Commonwealth leaders, particularly climate change, rather than those of the past.

“What they are most interested in is whether we can help them work with international financial institutions on the kinds of packages they need right now in relation to the challenges they face,” he said.

“Rather than ending up in a very long, endless discussion about reparations for the past, we will focus on just that.

“Of course slavery is an abomination to everyone. There is no question about trade and practices. But from my perspective… “Rather than spending a lot of time on the past, I think we want to roll up our sleeves and work together on the challenges of the present and the future.”

king charles Arrived in Samoa The summit is scheduled to officially open on Wednesday for a four-day visit.

When the king visited Kenya last year, he expressed his “deepest sadness and regret” over the “wrongs” of the colonial era, but did not issue an apology, which would require the consent of ministers.

Some non-Caribbean countries are not cool with Britain’s position and want the summit to focus more on existing challenges such as climate change, which is having a negative impact on many Commonwealth countries, about half of which are small island states. .

But Caribbean countries seem determined to keep pressing the issue.

This weekend, the three candidates hoping to be elected as the next Commonwealth secretary-general – Ghana’s Shirley Botchwey, Lesotho’s Joshua Setipa and Gambia’s Mamadou Tangara – have all made it clear that they support compensatory justice.

The British government and monarchy, along with other European countries, were major participants in the slave trade for hundreds of years starting in 1500, with millions of Africans forced to work on plantations.

Britain also played a key role in ending the trade when Congress passed legislation abolishing slavery in 1833.

“It is very wrong in principle to pay reparations for something that happened hundreds of years ago,” said former British Ambassador to the United Nations Mark Lyall Grant.

“Who should pay reparations?” he told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme, asking whether West African countries, Caribbean countries or the Windrush generation should take part.

Labor MP Clive Lewis said the UK needed to “start a dialogue” with Commonwealth leaders, adding: “We can do better by them”.

His colleague Dawn Butler said Britain should pay reparations because “it’s the right thing to do”.

During the Black History Month debate in the House of Commons, she pointed out that slave owners received £20m in compensation, or £100 billion in today’s money.